Fluids and gasses are contained in the earth. Many of these fluids and gasses are desirable and valuable for consumption purposes, e.g., gas, oil and water. To extract these fluids, a well is drilled into the earth. The wells can be very deep and often up to a mile or more in depth. These wells can be vertical or horizontal or a combination thereof.
Once a well is drilled, at least a portion of the well is generally lined with a metal casing. This metal casing can have cement filled between the outside of the casing and the earth formation to fill empty spaces.
After the casing is implemented, completions are located in the well to relay tools, packers, and to produce fluids. The completions often include piping or tubing, valves, and/or other well known instruments.
There are production areas along the wellbore, e.g., where oil is present, and others where oil is not present or present to a lesser degree. Given that, it is often desirable to only extract fluids from one section of the well. When that is the case, packers are used to isolate a portion of the wellbore from other portions for fluid extraction purposes. Often, the portion of the wellbore that is to be produced is perforated with a perforating gun while that portion remains separate.
Downhole environments can be very harsh. The fluids that are extracted are often quite harsh themselves, and additional fluids are often present. These additional fluids can be acidic and otherwise degrade various materials used to make completions and other equipment. In addition, high temperatures and pressures can be present. Frictional degradation and physical wear (e.g., from abrasives present in a well) can also be faced. In sum, tools placed downhole in wells face a number of factors that can all contribute to degradation of a tool material.
Accordingly, it is desirable to gain knowledge of potential degradation of various materials when exposed to actual wellbore environments.